Monthly Archives:: October 2014

A couple of weeks ago I was talking with Kate (Midnight Book Girl) about how I haven’t read the Harry Potter books in FOREVER and I really wanted to and we decided to do a reread ourselves. Fast forward a week and a post from Sheila (Book Journey) pops up in my reader and she is hosting a Harry Potter Reread! It’s fate!

To learn more about the reread head on over to Book Journey. Sheila lists all the details and other news. And you don’t have to have reread them to participate, it’s fine if its your first time too! As much as I would love to be in Gryffindor like Harry and the gang I am definitely a Ravenclaw girl.

Reading Schedule

Nov 1 – Nov. 16 – The Sorcerer’s Stone

Nov 17 – Dec. 6th – Chamber Of Secrets

Dec. 7 – Dec. 29th – The Prisoner Of Azkaban

Dec 30th – Jan 20th – The Goblet Of Fire

Jan. 21st – Feb 13th – Order Of The Phoenix

Feb. 14th – March 7th – The Half Blood Prince

March 8th – March 31st – The Deathly Hallows

This will be my first time rereading all the books and I’m very excited. Check it out and I hope you participate!

Mike McCauley had his soul mate for a precious time before she died giving birth to their son. She left him with the best boy a guy could want, so why is everyone playing matchmaker? He's sick of it . . . until he meets Delilah Webster.

For some reason, the foul-mouthed, tattooed mechanic sets his motor running. He sees the loving woman buried within. But the closer they get, the more the pain of past wounds throws a monkey wrench into a future he's not sure he can handle...

What I Thought…

• This is the final book in The McCauley Brothers series and that makes me sad. I love series that focus on families or friends that are close and this one is one of my favorites. They are sweet and sexy and fun and What to Do with a Bad Boy is no exception.

• Admittedly I was a wee bit nervous about this one. Del is quite a different girl from Abby, Vanessa and Maddie. She’s got tattoo’s, a fierce attitude and owns an auto body shop. She definitely has a sweet side, especially when it comes to Colin, Mike’s son. Del has a great, supportive dad, but her mom did a number on her when she was little, and that is Del’s biggest issue to get over.

• Mike is still brooding over the death of his wife, six years prior. His mom has decided that it’s been enough time and over the course of the first three books in the series and this one she has been throwing women at him left and right. I loved how Mike’s grief was dealt with. You can’t put a time limit on grief, nor can you tell someone it’s time to stop grieving and while his family thought that it was time for him to move on, he still worked through everything at his own pace, with Del’s help.

• Colin is one of the most adorable six year olds ever. His uncles have taught him to be mischievous and daring, much to Mike’s dismay, and he’s picked up a few other things from Del’s brother. We get his point of view a few times throughout What to Do with a Bad Boy and they were all so perfect. His quest for a brother was super cute.

• Del and Mike were such a great match. Not only did they have attraction, but Del was completely different from his wife, and he desperately needed that to bring him back from his grief. They knew how to push each others buttons and pull things out of each other that needed to be talked about.

Overall if you like contemporary romance I can’t recommend Marie Harte enough!

I’m excited to be able to present you with an excerpt of What to Do with a Bad Boy. I hope you check it out!

Excerpt

He leaned down, so that his nose was all but touching hers. “Sweetheart, you couldn’t handle what I’m really made of.”
Stupid Del wanted to drag his stubborn mouth closer for the kiss she could all but taste. From the look in his eyes, he wanted the same. Mike might not like her much, but the man wanted her. She could feel the chemistry between them, and it burned.

Self-preservation reared its head, and she ducked under him and hustled to the door leading to the hall. She opened it and waited. “Don’t let it hit you in the ass, Mike.”

He chuckled as he sauntered to join her. “You’ll watch what you say around Colin?”

“Yep. When I see him Wednesday night, I promise to call you a buttwipe instead of an asshole. Fair?”

He sighed. “Guess it’ll have to do. For now.” To her shock, he dragged a rough finger down her exposed neck. “Nice hair, by the way. I like the braids pulled back. Shows off your pretty neck. No tats here, sweetness?”

She didn’t know what to say, frozen by the combustible lust and confusion drowning her system.

He stared into her eyes again, gave a satisfied smile, then left.

She watched his fine ass leave the building, heard a few choice remarks from the guys in the garage who also watched him leave, and yelled at them to get back to work. Then she slammed into her office and plopped her butt in her chair, staring without seeing at the mess on her desk.

She rubbed her neck over the spot he’d touched and tried to be madder about what he’d done. What he’d called her.

Sweetness?

About Marie Harte

Caffeine addict, boy referee, and romance aficionado, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Marie Harte is a confessed bibliophile and devotee of action movies. Whether hiking in Central Oregon, biking around town, or hanging at the local tea shop, she’s constantly plotting to give everyone a happily ever after. Visit www.marieharte.com and fall in love.

Emmaline Neal needs a date. Just a date—someone to help her get through her ex-fiancé's wedding without losing her mind. But pickings are slim in Manningsport, New York, population 715. In fact, there's really only one option: local heartthrob Jack Holland. Everyone loves Jack, and he won't get the wrong idea…. After all, Jack Holland would never actually be interested in a woman like Em. Especially not with his beautiful ex-wife creeping around, angling to reunite ever since he rescued a group of teens and became a local hero.

But when the wedding festivities take an unexpectedly passionate turn, Em figures it was just one crazy night. Jack is too gorgeous, too popular, to ever end up with her. So why is she the one he can talk to about his deep, dark feelings? If Em is going to get her dream man, she'll have to start by believing in him…

What I Thought…

• One of the reasons why I love Kristan Higgins so much is that she always gives me so many feels, and In Your Dreams was no exception. There was so much going on with Jack and Emmaline and they were so perfect together, yet not perfect and I just couldn’t stop reading!

• Emmaline is added to my already long list of Higgins’ heroines that I want to be BFF’s with. She’s similar to me in a lot of ways, but different too.

• I’ve been looking forward to Jack’s story for awhile now and he was just as good as I expected. He’s been through a crap marriage and suffers from PTSD over a rescue that went wrong but also went right. I thought Higgin’s did a fantastic job with this aspect of the story.

• Emmaline and Jack both have crappy ex’s. Emmaline’s ex changed a lot and as he changed so did his feelings which sucked for Emmaline at the time, but she was much better off for it. Jack’s ex was despicable and leads me to my only complaint about the book. She was redeemed too quickly for me. She was a thorn in Jack’s side as well as immature and bratty.

• Watching Jack and Emmaline come together gave me so many feels. There was tension and a whole lot of sweet.

Overall Higgins’ does it again and writes a swoon worthy contemporary romance that you won’t want to miss.

Seventeen-year-old Annie Lucas's life is completely upended the moment her dad returns to the major leagues as the new pitching coach for the Kansas City Royals. Now she's living in Missouri (too cold), attending an all-girls school (no boys), and navigating the strange world of professional sports. But Annie has dreams of her own—most of which involve placing first at every track meet…and one starring the Royals' super-hot rookie pitcher.

But nineteen-year-old Jason Brody is completely, utterly, and totally off-limits. Besides, her dad would kill them both several times over. Not to mention Brody has something of a past, and his fan club is filled with C-cupped models, not smart-mouthed high school “brats” who can run the pants off every player on the team. Annie has enough on her plate without taking their friendship to the next level. The last thing she should be doing is falling in love.

But baseball isn't just a game. It's life. And sometimes, it can break your heart…

What I Thought…

• When I first heard about Whatever Life Throws at You I was so excited. I love sports and I love books about sports so it was a no brainer for me to preorder the book. The week that it came was perfect as I didn’t have a lot going on with school and I could dive right in.

• As I started Whatever Life Throws at You I started to worry that maybe I was too excited about it to read it right now, but I decided to go ahead anyway.

• It turns out I needn’t have worried. Whatever Life Throws at You was the perfect blend of sports, romance and cuteness for me. Even though Annie is in high school and Brody is not they are only 17 and 19.

• Annie was easy to like. She had a mix of grown up behavior and childish behavior, which I feel is perfectly normal for any 17 year old. She has had a good upbringing thanks to her dad, but struggles with her relationship with her mother. She knows what she wants, but isn’t always sure how to get it, or if she should get it.

• Brody is one of my favorite boys. He has a rough past that he is trying to overcome and he wants to do something with his life and make better choices than the ones he made in his earlier teens.

• So many awesome supporting characters! I absolutely loved Annie’s first friend in Kansas City, Lenny. Lenny has issues of her own but is also a good friend to Annie. Annie also often talks to one of her dad’s coworkers, Savannah, who becomes a kind of mom of sorts for her. Annie’s dad also wins the “Awesome Book Parent” award. Even though he isn’t perfect he is there for Annie (and Brody) and wants to make the right choices for her, even though that means picking up and moving all the way to Kansas City. While Annie’s mom isn’t all that great as a character she was exactly how I thought she should be when she finally reappeared in Annie’s life.

• I really enjoyed the baseball aspects of the story. They didn’t overwhelm you, but weren’t scarce either. There was one teeny tiny little thing about baseball that had me saying “Absolute No Way would that ever happen. Ever.” But the rest felt believable or lived up to what I already know about baseball.

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by the awesome people at The Broke and Bookish, who love lists as much as I do!

Top Ten New Series I Want to Start

1. Gameboard of the Gods by Richelle Mead – I loved the Vampire Academy/Bloodlines books so much.

2. Shadowlands by Kate Brian – I’ve had this book for forever.

3. The Dark Elements Series – Because Kate won’t shut up about it.

4. Superlatives by Jennifer Echols – They look super cute and fun.

5. If I Stay by Gale Forman – Everyone LOVES this but I’m putting it off because of crying.

6. False Memory by Dan Krokos – I wanted this so freaking bad at BEA a few years ago, but I didn’t get it, but got this from Steph and there it sits.

7. For Darkness Shows the Stars – Honestly the cover is just so pretty I had to have it and I’m still deciding if it is a “me” book or not.

I can’t think of any other series right now, I pretty much start the series I want to (finishing them is another story). However, if I had made this list at the beginning of summer these books would have been on it.

I started and finished both Vampire Academy and the Lux series. Read the first book in the Shiver Trilogy and Outlander series.

As the brains behind wedding site TyingTheKnot.com, Callie sees it all: from the ring to the dress, the smiles . . . to the tears. It's that last part that keeps her single and not looking. Getting left at the altar will do that to a girl. But when Callie returns to her old hometown, she finds that her sweet high school crush is sexier than ever. And he makes it hard to remember why she's sworn off love . . .

Tanner is a deep-sea diver with a wild, adrenaline-junkie past—and now his teenage son is back in his life. How can Tanner be a role model when he's still paying for his own mistakes? It's hard enough that gorgeous Callie has appeared in town like a beautiful dream, challenging his best-laid plans to keep his heart on lockdown. Though there's something about being around her again that makes him feel like he can be the man she—and his son—deserve. Little Lucky Harbor holds their past; can it hold a beautiful new future?

What I Thought…

I was a little nervous heading into One in a Million. It’s the last book in a favorite series and there is always the potential that it could go way wrong. Thankfully I am happy to say that One in a Million hit the mark! The only thing that was missing for me is that I would have liked to have see all the characters from previous books pop up, but with 11 previous books I realize that is a lot to hope for!

I really enjoyed Callie and Tanner’s story. Tanner has a lot of history behind him. The accident. His teenage son. His divorce. He’s a little messed up in the head about some of it and has a bit of a “do-right” complex. My favorite part of Tanner was seeing him connect with his teenage son, Troy. who isn’t really interested in connecting. Troy was a welcome addition to Lucky Harbor.

Callie is up in Lucky Harbor to check on her grandmother, who just happens to be the infamous Lucille, matchmaker extraordinaire. Lucille is a handful, but she’s not crazy, but Callie just doesn’t have it in her to leave. She’s determined never to love again after she got dumped at the alter, and seeing her now married ex with his wife throws her life into a tailspin.

I enjoyed watching Callie and Tanner come together… and apart… and together. I especially loved that Troy was part of that, he wasn’t just there to be there.

Jill Shalvis’ Lucky Harbor series has been one of my favorites for a long time. I love the small town setting and it’s quirks. I love Lucille and how everyone knows everyone. While I’m sure there are more characters that Shalvis could create and set in Lucky Harbor and I am sad to say goodbye, I do feel that this is the right time for the series to end. I know that new characters could easily be created and histories established, but that can be done anywhere! I feel that Lucky Harbor has been fully explored and I am eager to see what else Shalvis will be writing. Plus, I can always revist with a reread!

I loved One in a Million and I absolutely adore the Lucky Harbor series and I would recommend them to just about anyone!

The book staging challenge is all about staging your book with either something that is on the cover or with something that goes with the book and then taking a picture of it! You can do something elaborate or simple – it doesn’t matter! After you take a picture upload it to your blog, Twitter or Goodreads and put the link below. One person will win one book of their choice (up to $10) from Amazon (US, exclude Alaska/Hawaii) or The Book Depository (wherever The Book Depository ships to).

Here is an example with Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist and a pair of earbuds. Get creative and have fun! This challenge will end at the end of hour 7 (3pm EST)